SamuelEx Atletico Madrid forward Diego Forlan is set to make his ATP Challenge Tennis debut in the doubles competition at the Uruguay open in November.
Diego Forlan will compete in the men’s doubles category alongside with his partner Federico Coria of Argentina, who ranks 101st in the singles. The Uruguay open will be played across six days starting on November 12.
The 45-year-old has competed in more than three 40+ tournaments in Montevideo this year, also standing out in the MT 1000 in Lima of the ITF World Masters Tour.
Diego Forlan was a highly promising Tennis player as a child and only began to focus on his football career his sister Alejandra was paralyzed in a car accident in 1999. Until 16, he used to play at the Carrasco Lawn Tennis Club in Montevideo. This is where he’ll play next month.
Forlan football career
Diego Forlan who enjoyed playing professional football for more than two decades, played for some of the top clubs in Europe, including Manchester United, Villarreal, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan. He also represented the Uruguay national team for 112 times.
Forlan made his first move to Europe in 2002, after moving to Manchester United from Independiente for a fee of about 7.5million euros. He only made 66 appearances before he was traded in Spain to Villarreal Fc in 2004. He came back to his form at Villarreal as he won the Pichichi Trophy as the leading scorer in LaLiga with 25 goals.
He moved to Atletico Madrid in 2007 as he continued he decent form winning the Pichichi again in 2008/2009 season with 32 goals.
He had his most successful years with Villarreal and Atletico Madrid from 2004 to 2011 after recording 128 goals in 240 LaLiga appearances. but his greatest success came at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he almost single-handed lead Uruguay to the semifinals round. His volley against Germany in the third place match was voted the tournament best goal. He was also amongst the World Cup top scorer with five goals.
In July 2011, Forlan made his 80th Cap for Uruguay during the Copa America tournament. He led the Uruguayan National Team to winning their 15th Copa America title. He announced his retirement from international football in 2015 after featuring in 112 matches for Uruguay.
He joined Inter Milan in 2011 and left for Internacional of Brazil in July 2012. The Club’s financial crisis pushed Forlan to make a shocking move to Japanese club Cerezo Osaka in January 2014. In July 2015, he signed with club Peñarol, the club which he first played for as a youth helping them win the Uruguayan League same year. He didn’t stay long before joining Mumbai City of the Indian Super League, and in 2018 he played part of a season with Kitchee of the Hong Kong Premier League.
Forlan announced his retirement from professional football in 2019 with total of 309 goals in 693 games with 8 Trophies.
Samuel
